Courtois Skips Chelsea Training

Thibaut Courtois failed to report for training at Chelsea on Monday in an attempt to force a move to Real Madrid.

The FA Cup winners are open to doing a deal before Thursday’s deadline but want £45million for the Belgium goalkeeper and want a deal in place for a replacement before letting Courtois to leave.

It is the later that is causing the holdup as Chelsea are linked with a lot of goalkeepers, but with less than 72 hours until the transfer window closes, it is a race against time for the Blues.

New Chelsea boss Maurizio Sarri wants a goalkeeper who is comfortable with the ball at his feet and Chelsea have been linked with Jordan Pickford, but Everton are not going to sell their 24-year-old England No 1 this late in the transfer window.

Kapser Schmeichel is a name that has been mentioned, but similar to Jordan Pickford, Leicester do not want to see their No.1 this late in the transfer window.

The logical replacement for Courtois England international Jack Butland who is playing in the Championship. He would cost half of what Pickford is valued at, at since he plays in the Championship, the deal would be more straight forward.

With Premier League sides being required to field eight homegrown players in their squad, Butland solves two problems. He can replace Courtois and he can use up one of Chelsea’s eight homegrown slots.

Courtois has less than 12 months left on his contract and he has repeatedly told Chelsea that he will not sign a new deal, which is what is creating this urgency for Chelsea to find a resolution rather than lose him for nothing next summer.

Maurizio Sarri had insisted he wanted Courtois to tell him face-to-face of his intention to leave, but the 25-year-old refused to even show up on time from his post-World Cup holiday.